Saturday, November 30, 2013

This was a terrible thing to see, and a reminder of how the POWs in Vietnam were forced to read false confessions: "85 year old American held in North Korea apologizes for 'war crimes.'" I'm surprised the great diplomat Dennis Rodman hasn't tried to have him released.

It's beginning to look a lot like insanity! Look at this, and listen to the noise. If this is what Christmas has become, then I'm doubly glad I'm Jewish. People ought to be ashamed of themselves for behaving like such wild animals. I say this every year, but then again, it gets worse every year, even when more and more people are complaining about how poor they are!

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Can't people just be left alone to have a nice Thanksgiving Day meal in peace? I remember when you were told not to discuss religion or politics. Now you're being told to discuss politics -- as long as it's left-wing politics like Obamacare and gun control. I'm sorry, but I'd rather not have a side dish of propaganda with my turkey.

Not "Thanksgivvukah", but just plain "Hanukah." Forget about the menorah shaped like a turkey, and look instead at this 36-foot menorah near Amsterdam. The purpose, according to the Christian Zionist who paid for it, is simple: "After unspeakable suffering, the horrors of the Holocaust and most recently the attacks on Israel, Jews may feel they are alone," Lont told JTA. "This is our way of saying you are not alone, we are behind you."

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Here are a few random thoughts by Thomas Sowell: "President Obama really has a way with words, such as calling the
problems that millions of people have had trying to sign up for
ObamaCare 'glitches.' When the Titanic sank, was that a 'glitch'?"

"Among the painful signs of our time are TV programs built around
paternity tests. Apparently the way these women live, it is anybody's
guess who their child's father might be."

"Don't you love it when a politicians says, 'I take full
responsibility'? Translated into plain English, that says, 'Now that I
have admitted it, there is nothing more for me to do (such as resign)
and nothing for anyone else to do (such as fire me).' Saying 'I take
full responsibility' is like a get-out-of-jail-free card in the Monopoly
game."

Let's file a class action lawsuit against Obama and Obamacare, on the ground that the stress from headlines like this are making our health even worse! "Almost 80 million with employer health care plans could have
coverage canceled, experts predict." Also, think of it: you will have less money for basic necessities after you go broke trying to pay for your Obamacare plan. You spend less, and stores go out of business. You have no money to give to charities, who will see a rise in people demanding food and help. If you still have a job, you will be paying even more in taxes to support everyone else. Prepare yourself for the next Great Depression, thanks to the President who claims he didn't know anything about it.

On top of this, "more than six in 10 workers in a recent Washington Post-Miller Center poll worry that they will lose their jobs to the economy, surpassing concerns in more than a dozen surveys dating to the 1970s." Rick Moran says, "More parallels to the Carter era are emerging as the Obama economy continues to grind down the American worker." Yes, but at least Carter didn't destroy the country with Cartercare!

Monday, November 25, 2013

Read the always intelligent Melanie Phillips on the deal with Iran. "Iran has been protected
throughout by a mysterious cloak of denial and paralysis. The west took
the decision that acts of Iranian aggression and mass murder were to be
absorbed without any response. For the west, war with Iran has
always been seen as infinitely worse than war by Iran — regardless of
the body count of its innocent victims. And now this suicidal farce has
reached its last act — with the west tragically still in appeasement
mode". And, "We are indeed now facing the
unthinkable. Not just that Iran is on the verge of being allowed to
proceed to nuclear capability. The really unthinkable reality is that
the enemies of the civilized world are not just to be found in Tehran.
They are also in London, Brussels and Washington DC."

I agree with Mitch Albom -- cell phones on a plane is a terrible idea. At least in a store or other public place you can walk away from a cell phone babbler. But where can you go on a plane? Why would you want to be held hostage to inconsiderate bellowers any more than you have to?

In his column, David M. Weinberg writes: "It is
incredible to Israeli officials that none of the American-Iranian talks
until now have focused on Iran's 'bad' behavior in the region, from
supporting Hezbollah and Syria's Assad, to its subversive activities in
Egypt and Jordan, to its genocidal statements with regard to Israel. It
seems to Israel that everything is being swept under the carpet in a
dangerously enthusiastic rush to craft a new deal with Iran; a deal that
may last long enough for Obama to serve out his presidential tenure
without having to confront the Iranians. In this context, Israel
now clearly understands that the Obama administration has no intentions
of striking the Iranian nuclear military complex, ever, under any
circumstances. The residual, ritual American incantations of the
diplomatic formula that 'all options remain on the table' -- to wit
military action could still be contemplated if the Iranians don't follow
through on their new commitments -- ring totally hollow. Far too many
administration spokesmen have explained over and over again in recent
weeks that war with Iran is not an acceptable option. This leads to a full-blown crisis of
confidence in U.S.-Israel relations. The credibility of Obama and Kerry
on the Iranian file is shot through so badly in Israeli eyes that, alas,
almost nothing either of these American leaders can say will allay
Israeli fears (and one gets the sense, the fears of Saudi Arabia and
other Arab countries, too)."

Amazingly, some think that this has earned Obama the Nobel Peace Prize he somehow won in 2009. The historic mistake is that he was re-elected to do even more damage.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Sorry, Obama. I don't trust you, and I don't trust Iran. This nuclear deal certainly doesn't impress me, and you can be sure it doesn't thrill Israel. Plus, it won't take Americans' minds off Obamacare or boost his already-dismal approval rating. John Bolton wrote, "The negotiation process itself buys Iran both time to continue its nuclear-weapons activities and international legitimacy. Kerry and others, even at this supposedly interim stage, are already speculating openly about ultimately normalizing relations between Washington and Tehran. This tells the ayatollahs everything they need to know. Consider one historical analogy. In 1938, Germany wanted the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. It would either get the territory or not. There was no compromise position. Ask Neville Chamberlain how that worked out."

I read that if voters knew their health plans would be cancelled, they would have voted for Romney last November. Oh, they can say that now, but last year they were still too enamored of their free stuff to bother thinking for themselves! Obviously they forgot what Obama said back in 2008 about redistributing wealth. The voters have nobody but themselves to blame for their current predicament.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Instead of talking about the assassination of JFK today, how about the original news story about how he rescued the crew of PT 109. Look at these photos of him as a young man, and remember his bravery through constant illness and pain.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

This is a good column about the juvenile "selfie" trend -- taking your own photo with your cell phone, then posting it. It's bad enough when you're a kid, but worse when you are supposedly an adult (anyone remember Geraldo Rivera's "selfie"?) To take photos of yourself while driving shows the same recklessness as texting while driving. But this lack of common decency is even worse: "There is an entire Tumblr page devoted to people taking pictures of themselves at their friends’ and relatives’ wakes and memorials. Regardless of your relation to the deceased, there’s no excuse for ever doing this." I think "selfie" must really stand for "selfish".

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Here's Thomas Sowell on our culture: "Victimhood is where it's at.
If there are not enough real victims, then fictitious victims must be
created — as with the claim that there is "a war on women." Why anyone
would have an incentive or a motivation to create a war on women in the
first place is just one of the questions that should be asked of those
who promote this political slogan, obviously designed for the gullible. The real war — which is being waged in our schools, in the media and
among the intelligentsia — is the war on achievement. When President
Obama told business owners, 'You didn't build that!' this was just one
passing skirmish in the war on achievement."

Monday, November 18, 2013

Andrew McCarthy was just on Megyn Kelly's show talking about Obama's latest lie, which he termed "insidious." Read his column and weep if you are on a group heath plan at work: "In the weekend column, I link to the excellent work of Powerline’s John Hinderaker, who has demonstrated that, for over three years, the Obama administration’s internal estimates have shown that most Americans who are covered by 'employer plans' will also lose their coverage under Obamacare. Mind you, 156 million Americans get health coverage through their jobs." I think I'm going to need a cardiologist and a hypertension specialist by the time he's done destroying our lives.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Adrienne's Corner has it right. "So what makes these policies sub-standard, bare-bones, low quality, lousy, crappy, and no good?
For one thing, they don't cover 'free' abortion on demand, 'free'
birth-control, and our policy didn't have any maternity coverage. Since
I was in my 60's, maternity coverage was not a big issue for me."

I happen to like my health insurance, which I pay for, and I don't intend to have it stolen from me. I also resent the assumption that those of us who work for our health insurance are perfectly willing to support everyone else. Maybe the bleeding-heart liberals are willing, but I'm not.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

It will knock you out in more ways than one! it's a new "game" in which thugs try to knock out strangers with one punch when they walk by. I'm sure liberals will offer all sorts of excuses for this violent behavior and will propose millions more be wasted on youth activities. All I can hope is that the next victim is a Black Belt or a cop with a gun who will put a most definite end to this amusing fad.

Friday, November 15, 2013

As a bonus, here is Daniel Greenfield's Friday Afternoon Roundup. The cartoon captioned "The Crook" is an insult to Nixon; the post about the trans-fat ban is one of the few reports I've seen on the skyrocketing prices, and the lousy taste, of food.

What's amazing to me is that Obama is so shameless that when he talks like this, it's as if someone else conceived of and made a disaster of Obamacare, and now he's doing you a favor and rescuing you from it! Are people actually falling for his line? I'm also amazed that in this Fox Poll, 38% of the people actually believe the Obama administration has been honest! You'd think that percentage would be much lower. Are we all living in the same country?

Reading these reminiscences by readers of the L.A. Times, it's clear to see that most of the people my age had the same experiences as I did, and that those days actually did unfold just the way I remember.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

"If you can’t take some joy, some modicum of relief and mirth, in the
unprecedentedly spectacular beclowning of the president, his
administration, its enablers, and, to no small degree, liberalism
itself, then you need to ask yourself why you’re following politics in
the first place. Because, frankly, this has been one of the most
enjoyable political moments of my lifetime. I wake up in the morning and
rush to find my just-delivered newspaper with a joyful expectation of
worsening news so intense, I feel like Morgan Freeman should be
narrating my trek to the front lawn. Indeed, not since Dan Rather
handcuffed himself to a fraudulent typewriter, hurled it into the abyss,
and saw his career plummet like Ted Kennedy was behind the wheel have I
enjoyed a story more.

Alas, the English language is not well equipped to capture the
sensation I’m describing, which is why we must all thank the Germans for
giving us the term 'schadenfreude' — the joy one feels at the
misfortune or failure of others. The primary wellspring of schadenfreude
can be attributed to Barack Obama’s hubris — another immigrant word,
which means a sinful pride or arrogance that causes someone to believe
he has a godlike immunity to the rules of life."

Yes, it's quite a downfall from the days when he was known as a Lightworker, a Messiah, a man with a great crease in his pants, a voice like a symphony, and a halo over his head. I still remember this Mark Morford column from 2008: "No, it's not merely his youthful vigor, or handsomeness, or even
inspiring rhetoric. It is not fresh ideas or cool charisma or the fact
that a black president will be historic and revolutionary in about a
thousand different ways. It is something more. Even Bill Clinton, with
all his effortless, winking charm, didn't have what Obama has, which is a
sort of powerful luminosity, a unique high-vibration integrity."

Let's just keep our fingers crossed that the Republicans don't do or say something stupid that gives Obama, the Dems, and the media an excuse to change the subject.

In case you still need more proof that the United Nations does nothing but condemn Israel, read this:

"Thursday a United Nations interpreter, unaware
that her microphone was on, uttered words of truth in reaction to the
General Assembly’s adoption of nine politically-motivated resolutions condemning Israel, and zero resolutions on the rest of the world.

Under the mistaken impression that she was
speaking only to a colleague, the interpreter uttered the following
words into the headphones of every UN delegate, and before a live
webcast audience worldwide:

'Isn’t it a little weird? There are nine
or ten resolutions against Israel. And I know there’s a problem with the
Palestinians. But there’s other bad shit going on and they’re spending
so much time on this.'

Laughter erupted among the delegates. 'The
interpreter apologizes,' said the unfortunate truth-teller, moments
later. I sincerely hope she won’t get fired.

Because the one who should really apologize
today is the UN. Founded on noble ideals, the world body is turning the
dream of liberal internationalists into a nightmare."

That's OK. The U.N. will probably excuse away the interpreter's remarks as saying she didn't say it, or everyone else misheard. After all, hasn't Obama tried that with the Syrian red line and keeping your health plan/doctor?

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

In this article about how politically correct and liberal even sports has become, I saw the phrase"feminization of sports", and I agree with it. Sports are supposed to be rough-and-tumble contact games, not excuses for teaching people how to be gentle and kind. The feminization of sports is most recently seen in this ridiculous Miami Dolphins story. I swear people are more outraged, and demanding more action, over a spat between supposedly adult males than they were about the murders at Benghazi!

Andrew B. Wilson has a terrific column at American Spectator called "Confederacy of Slackers" that you have to read. It covers some results of the Obama White House including our shameful labor participation rate; the Obamacare disaster; and his handling of Benghazi, Syria, and Israel.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

In Forbes, Steven Hayward says that "Obamacare is going to be repealed well in advance of next year’s election." Let's just hope he's right. In order to save this country from further disaster, either Obamacare must go, or Obama must go -- preferably both.

Monday, November 11, 2013

From Vanity Fair, famous people describe their reactions when they heard that President Kennedy had been killed.

And finally, after recalling the gist of it, I found the poem online that my grandfather enclosed for us with a letter after the assassination. I still remember my mother crying as she read it out loud:

A Letter From Heaven, by Barbara Jones, 1963

Special Delivery-From HeavenTo the Kennedy Family From John F. Kennedy

Sorry I had to leave right awayI look down and smile at you everydayLittle Patrick says to say HiI love you, I’m happy so please don’t cry

And Caroline I’d like to sayHow proud daddy was of you that day When you stood like a lady and watched me go byYou did just like mommy you tried not to cry

Little John John now that you’re the big man Take care of mommy the best you can You stood like a soldier, your salute was so brave Thanks for the flag you put on my grave

And Jackie we had no time for good byesBut I’m sure you could read the farewell in my eyesTake care of our children and love them for meI’ll treasure your love through eternitySo please carry on as you did before Till all of us meet on heaven’s bright shoreRemember I love you remember I care I’ll always be with you Though you don’t see me there

There have been a lot of good articles about the Iran nuclear deal, and here are just two of them.

Israel Hayom describes John Kerry as "nasty, threatening, one-sided,
blind to the malfeasance and unreliability of Palestinian leaders, and
dangerously oblique to the explosive situation he himself is creating." and "Kerry
has basically laid out the Obama administration's understanding (dare I
say, acceptance) of the campaign to delegitimize and isolate Israel --
unless Israel succumbs to Palestinian and international dictates for
almost complete Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Jerusalem. Kerry is effectively
telling the Palestinians that they should make sure the talks fail, and
then Israel will be forced to give in."

Ynetnews has an op-ed titled "Shameless appeasement of Iran. It is morally disgraceful for US president to pressure Jews to turn their back on Israeli concern", saying "The Jewish organizations
must say no to Obama’s outrageous pressure and follow the lessons we
were forced to learn from our history that appeasing and accommodating
evil lead only to more evil toward our people... It is 1939 all over
again. Then and now the US policy of staying away from confronting evil
in favor of isolationism is bad news for the Jews."

Bonus: This is from the Algemeiner: "JNS.org-
Here, in a nutshell, are the principles driving the Obama
Administration’s Middle East policy.Screw the Syrians. Don’t upset the
Iranians. And stop those damn Israelis from wrecking Israeli-Palestinian
conflict negotiations."

Somehow, where this administration is concerned, I am not at all surprised by any of this.

Saturday, November 09, 2013

And speaking of liars, this is what Obama had the nerve to say: "Keep in mind that most of the folks who are going to who got these cancellation letters, they'll be able to get better care at the same cost or cheaper in these new marketplaces because they'll have more choice, they'll have more competition. They're part of a bigger pool. Insurance companies are going to be hungry for their business. So, the majority of folks will end up being better off, of course, because the website's not working right. They don’t necessarily know it right [now]. But, even though it's a small percentage of folks who may be disadvantaged, you know, it means a lot to them. And it's scary to them."

Well, it's scary to me, too, and I have necessarily known for the past few years how bad Obamacare was going to be. Whatever he's selling, I'm not buying it. He should be impeached, and his law should be repealed. Period.

Friday, November 08, 2013

Read this editorial about Kristallnacht by Ronald S. Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress, and how history could repeat itself: "While Israel's neighbors
slaughter hundreds of thousands of their own, we see the growing,
visceral hatred of the Jewish state throughout Europe.We see a United Nations that
appears incapable of stopping any form of genocide and instead, focuses
its attention and condemnation on the only democracy in the Middle East,
Israel. We see the mullahs of Iran pushing to create nuclear bombs along with
the long-range missiles to deliver them. All the while, we hear Iran's
leaders mockingly boast that they will wipe Israel from the pages of
history.Once again, we see world leaders incapable of acting, refusing to see
what is right in front of them, pretending that what the Iranian mullahs
say and what they do isn't real, that it's not really happening. We see
a Western world that is lulled into a false sense of security by a new
Iranian president whose track record is not nearly as good as people
think. Let's hope the world does not wait again until it is too late to stop the calamity."

That's the motto of this Administration. He doesn't care about throwing millions of Americans off their excellent health insurance plans, and he certainly doesn't care what Israel thinks about negotiating with Iran. His allies -- and America's -- are rapidly declining, and with good cause.

Thursday, November 07, 2013

Visit Maggie's Farm, Larwyn's Linx, and Betsy's Page, for lots of posts about the continuing outrage of Obamacare, as well as other topics. I'd like to see the insurance companies sue the Obama administration over his blaming them for the cancellations. If it weren't for him, there'd be no mass cancellations!

Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Titled "Maybe Pain Will Teach You Millenials Not To Vote For Your Own Serfdom", here's a terrific column I saw at American Digest. I swore I wouldn't mention Obama today, but this is too good to ignore. Trial lawyer Kurt Schlichter addresses the Millenial idiots who voted for Obama (the definition of "millenial" is "a person reaching young adulthood around the year 2000"):

"You Millenials voted for Obama by a margin of 28 percent,
which will make it a lot easier for me to accept the benefits you will
be paying for. We warned you that liberalism was a scam designed to
take the fruits of your labor and transfer it to us, the older,
established generation. Oh, and also to the couch-dwelling,
Democrat-voting losers who live off of food stamps and order junk from
QVC with their Obamaphones. You didn’t listen to us. Maybe you’ll listen to pain."

"There’s no sugar-coating it – your votes for Democrats have ensured that
you are the first generation in American history that will fail to
exceed what their parents attained."

And "Why do you support an ideology that pillages you to pay-off Democrat
constituencies? Your time in the indoctrination factories of academia
trained you in a form of 'critical thinking' that is neither. Somehow,
you came to embrace the bizarre notion that conservatives are psychotic
Jesus freaks who want to Footloosisze America into a land of mandatory
Sunday school and no dancing.But liberals, in contrast, are nice. Obama is
cool. You chose petty fascism with a smile. Not a lot of thought went
into it. Facts, evidence – these were mere distractions from the
feelings-based validation that came from rejecting us wicked
conservatives.What did you get? The chance to be forced to buy health
insurance you don’t want at inflated rates so my rates can be lower.
You get to pay more out of your monthly barista take – liberalism
ensured that the tanked job market foreclosed a real career – so that I
get to pay less out of my lawyer checks. Thanks, suckers."

Boy, is this a perfect description of so many people I know! Read the whole column and pass it on.

Tuesday, November 05, 2013

That's putting it mildly! "Berlin — A German hotel apologized for running an ad for a 'long, romantic Kristallnacht'to be held on the 75th anniversary of the Nazi pogrom against Jews and their institutions.
The Kristall Sauna Wellnesspark in Bad Klosterlausnitz, in the former
eastern German state of Thuringen, pulled the ad for the November 9
event and issued an apology via Facebook, according to the Cologne-based
online newspaper Express.de. In a statement issued Monday, the hotel owners apologized for their 'insensitive naming of this event,' which was 'extremely inappropriate.'
They explained that they frequently tag part of their name, 'Kristall,'
onto their events." It's hard to believe they would be so ignorant as to use that word on that very day.

Monday, November 04, 2013

Read Greg Crosby's latest column, titled "The Unraveling of Civilization". I'm sure many readers, like me, will be nodding in agreement. Among other topics, he writes about the end of common courtesies, things we grew up with that have sadly vanished:

"The simple act of saying 'thank you' and 'you're welcome' has been displaced with grunts and 'no
problem.' Our language is liberally laced with obscenities and
vulgarities, women and children use the terms and words as much as men
do. Public demonstrations of courtesy to women are considered taboo or
insulting. Open a door for a woman and instead of a smile and a thank
you, you will be ignored or even get a dirty look. Stand up when a lady
enters a room and people will think you're crazy or just simply laugh
at you.

Certain
things were considered 'private matters.' People went into a phone
booth and shut the door when they wanted to make a call. They kept
their voices down when speaking in public places so as not to disturb
others around them. Radio and television advertisers were careful not
to offend their audiences. When selling products related to personal
health or bodily matters, euphemisms were used out of respect for the
greater broadcast audience. Now common street terms are boldly and
graphically used in the most vulgar descriptive ways when selling
personal hygiene and toilet products. Matter of fact, most advertising
is vulgar now."

Read this and tell me again what a great job our President is doing: "You Also Can't Keep Your Doctor. I had great cancer doctors and health insurance. My plan was cancelled. Now I worry how long I'll live." by Edie Littlefield Sundby. As Hillary Clinton would say, "What difference does it make?" As long as the uninsured and low information voters are taken care of, who cares about the majority of us who never asked for this? We've got to fight back.

Sunday, November 03, 2013

Here are some poignant then and now photographs of Anne Frank's Amsterdam. November 9 is the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, which Angela Merkel calls one of the darkest moments in German history. Unfortunately, in some countries such as Norway, not much has changed for the Jews: "75 years after the Kristallnacht large numbers of European Jews are
still living in fear. Many dare not use Jewish symbols. Anti-Semite
personal attacks are on the increase in many countries. Jews being
assaulted dare not report this to the police. Their experience is over
police reports leading to nought." (via Instapundit)

I like this item from Hamilton's November 1 column: "West Hollywood held a Halloween
parade on Santa Monica Boulevard last night that drew three hundred
thousand revelers. They were mostly young adults. The grand prize for
scariest costume went to a guy who dressed up as the bill for your new
health care plan."

Friday, November 01, 2013

This stupid fool probably didn't even know who Lewis and Clark were! "A man has been arrested for defacing national monument Pompeys Pillar after he etched a love message just three feet from the historic Captain William Clark’s signature, made in 1806. The carving, which reads ‘Cole + Shpresa 10/10/2013’ with a love heart, was found by shocked deputies at the famous monument in Montana. Ignoring the warning signs, security cameras and railings, a man from Minnesota admitted to the crime, which has been described as a ‘senseless act of vandalism’."

Here's a nice tribute to Charles Krauthammer, who has a new book out. Among other reasons, "Krauthammer matters because he serves as a reminder that we can
pursue happiness despite the disasters that come our way. If you
find yourself overwhelmed by your troubles just remember that he
would not allow paralysis to prevent him from pursuing a career in
medicine. Paralysis did not prevent him from abandoning that career
to pursue another in journalism. Nor for that matter did it prevent
him from becoming a husband and father. Krauthammer is living his
American dream and is having a wonderful life."